The decreasing trend of scrap prices may have come to an end in the Italian domestic market. After the price reductions recorded in the market in recent months due to several problems, such as the accidents that forced Italian steel producer Arvedi to halt its production, in the past few weeks Italian mills have increased their scrap purchase prices by €5-10/mt ($6-12/mt) on the lower end of the price range.
At present, scrap prices in the local Italian market are at the following levels:
Quality | Average price (€/mt) |
Turnings (E5) | 215-220 ($264-271/mt) |
HMS (E3) | 230-240 ($283-295/mt) |
Shredded scrap (E40) | 250-260 ($308-320/mt) |
Busheling (E8) | 250-260 ($308-320/mt) |
Prices include delivery and exclude VAT.
Meanwhile, as SteelOrbis has learned, in France and Germany scrap suppliers and buyers are still in negotiations, but further price declines in their respective local markets are expected to be seen in the current month. However, for the Italian mills that buy scrap from these countries, prices will most likely remain unchanged, market sources said.
Returning to the Italian market, this month the trend of domestic scrap prices will depend strongly on the production stoppages scheduled by local mills. Excluding Arvedi, which will continue to produce during the coming period, some Italian mills may bring forward their usual seasonal halts in production activities to next week, with others expected to halt production in the following week. In this scenario, there would also be repercussions on consumption in early January, with negative implications for the scrap price trend.
€1 = $1.23